Pentti Henttonen

Sharing the Emotional Load Recipient Affiliation Calms Down the Storyteller

In conversational storytelling, the recipients are expected to show affiliation with the emotional stance displayed by the storytellers. We investigated emotional arousal-related autonomic nervous system responses in tellers and recipients of conversational stories. The data consist of 20 recordings of 45- to 60-minute dyadic conversations between female university and polytechnic students. Conversations were videotaped and analyzed by means of conversation analysis (CA), with a special emphasis on the verbal and nonverbal displays of affiliation in storytelling. Electrodermal activity in both participants was measured to estimate their arousal level. The results show that the verbal and nonverbal displays of affiliation decrease the storyteller’s but increase the recipient’s level of arousal. This means that the monitoring of the recipient actions in storytelling, shown by earlier CA studies, has a physiological correlate. We suggest that storytelling involves an emotional load, which the participants share physiologically in affiliative responses.

On the Asperger experience of interaction: Interpersonal dynamics in dyadic conversations

Abstract We compared the patterns of affiliative and dominant behavior displayed in male dyads where one participant has Aspergers syndrome (AS) with those displayed in male dyads with two neurotypical (NT) participants. Drawing on

Intragroup Emotions: Physiological Linkage and Social Presence

We investigated how technologically mediating two different components of emotion—communicative expression and physiological state—to group members affects physiological linkage and self-reported feelings in a small group during video viewing. In different conditions the availability of second screen text chat (communicative expression) and visualization of group level physiological heart rates and their dyadic linkage (physiology) was varied. Within this four person group two participants formed a physically co-located dyad and the other two were individually situated in two separate rooms. We found that text chat always increased heart rate synchrony but HR visualization only with non-co-located dyads. We also found that physiological linkage was strongly connected to self-reported social presence. The results encourage further exploration of the possibilities of sharing group members physiological components of emotion by technological means to enhance mediated communication and strengthen social presence.

Type 1 long QT syndrome and psychological stress in a laboratory setting

Trait-like sensitivity to stress in long QT syndrome patients has been documented previously. In addition, mental stress has been associated with symptomatic status of long QT syndrome. We examined whether the symptomatic type 1 long QT syndrome patients would be more sensitive to mental stress compared to asymptomatic patients and whether there would be differences in task-related physiological stress reactions between type 1 long QT syndrome patients and healthy individuals. The study population consisted of 21 symptomatic and 23 asymptomatic molecularly defined KCNQ1 mutation carriers, their 32 non-carrier relatives and 46 non-related healthy controls, with mean ages of 37, 39, 35 and 23 years, respectively. Electrocardiography was utilised to calculate inter-beat interval and high frequency and low frequency heart rate variability. Blood pressure was measured and mean arterial pressure and pulse pressure were calculated. Stress was induced using three different tasks: mental arithmetic, reaction time and public speech. Stress responses of symptomatic and asymptomatic type 1 long QT syndrome patients were not statistically different in any of the stress tasks. Short-term physiological stress reactivity of symptomatic type 1 long QT syndrome patients appears to be normal and does not enhance the risk assessment of asymptomatic mutation carriers.

Empathy, Challenge, and Psychophysiological Activation in Therapist–Client Interaction

Two central dimensions in psychotherapeutic work are a therapist’s empathy with clients and challenging their judgments. We investigated how they influence psychophysiological responses in the participants. Data were from psychodynamic therapy sessions, 24 sessions from 5 dyads, from which 694 therapist’s interventions were coded. Heart rate and electrodermal activity (EDA) of the participants were used to index emotional arousal. Facial muscle activity (electromyography) was used to index positive and negative emotional facial expressions. Electrophysiological data were analyzed in two time frames: (a) during the therapists’ interventions and (b) across the whole psychotherapy session. Both empathy and challenge had an effect on psychophysiological responses in the participants. Therapists’ empathy decreased clients’ and increased their own EDA across the session. Therapists’ challenge increased their own EDA in response to the interventions, but not across the sessions. Clients, on the other hand, did not respond to challenges during interventions, but challenges tended to increase EDA across a session. Furthermore, there was an interaction effect between empathy and challenge. Heart rate decreased and positive facial expressions increased in sessions where empathy and challenge were coupled, i.e., the amount of both empathy and challenge was either high or low. This suggests that these two variables work together. The results highlight the therapeutic functions and interrelation of empathy and challenge, and in line with the dyadic system theory by Beebe and Lachmann (2002), the systemic linkage between interactional expression and individual regulation of emotion.

The role of personality in dyadic interaction: A psychophysiological study

Psychophysiological activity was recorded during development discussions of 44 manager-subordinate pairs to examine the effects of the Big Five personality traits Extraversion and Conscientiousness, and personality similarity during dyadic social interaction. Facial electromyography and frontal electroencephalography (EEG) asymmetry were collected continuously during the 30-min discussions. Different actor and partner effects and Actor×Partner interactions were observed. Matching levels of Extraversion led to higher periocular muscle activity, indicating positive valence emotional expressions. The results are discussed considering similarity attraction theories.